The Vanishing Exemption
Document Type
News Article
Publication Date
3-31-1981
ISSN
0190-8286
Publisher
Don Graham
Language
en-US
Abstract
In 1946, when a pound of bread cost about 10 cents, the Internal Revenue Code allowed every person to treat $500 of income as applied to necessities and exempt from income tax. In 1981, when inflation has increased the general price level for all consumer products more than four times the post-World War II level, this income tax allowance for necessities has only doubled, to $1,000 per person. In effect, inflation has cut the tax allowance for necessities by half.
Recommended Citation
Alan L. Feld,
The Vanishing Exemption
,
in
Washington Post
(1981).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2951
